Medicaid Work Requirement That Could Have Affected HUSKY Coverage For 100,000 Blocked

by Donald Eng

A coalition of states has won a permanent injunction blocking the Trump administration’s implementation of some Medicaid work requirements under H.R. 1. The lawsuit, filed in June, 2026, challenged the interpretation of terms like “medically frail” that Attorney General William Tong said made it harder for medically vulnerable individuals to be excused from work requirements.

In Thursday’s decision, the District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration’s definition of “medical frailty” is contrary to law, vacated the language, issued a permanent injunction, and granted the plaintiff states’ a six-month stay of enforcement to accommodate any errors or delays resulting from the necessary changes to implementation, Tong said.

“This was another web of useless red tape concocted by Trump to deny millions of Americans access to healthcare,” Tong said. “We sued and we stopped him, and we’re going to keep fighting to protect access to Medicaid free from arbitrary and cruel bureaucratic barriers.”

The Community Health Center Association of Connecticut, in a statement, also praised the ruling, saying the original rules could have jeopardized HUSKY coverage for more than 100,000 state residents. The rule, according to association President and CEO Shawn Frick, required patients to prove their medical frailty “significantly impaired” their ability to work, creating a subjective administrative hurdle.

“Today’s ruling appropriately removes that vague and subjective standard, aligning implementation with congressional intent,” said Shawn Frick, the association’s president and CEO. “I want to be clear: we are still concerned about significant coverage losses. However, this decision will help protect access to coverage by reducing some of the red tape for patients, community health centers, health care providers, and the state.”

Medicaid is the nation’s safety net healthcare program for low-income Americans and is jointly funded by states and the federal government, with the federal government providing at least 50% of the cost of services. Congress created exemptions from Medicaid’s work requirements to ensure that people with serious illnesses and disabilities do not lose coverage or face interruptions in care.

Yet, Tong said, despite months of working with states on implementation, earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services surprised states with an interim final rule that made it harder for medically vulnerable individuals to be excused from the work requirements and makes other changes that increase administrative burdens, create unnecessary red tape, and put eligible people at risk of losing their health coverage — including those who are already working or qualify for an exemption. 

Past Medicaid work requirement programs have shown that added red tape causes eligible people to lose coverage, placing greater strain on state Medicaid programs, safety net providers, and emergency rooms, while increasing costs as more medically frail residents become uninsured, Tong said.